Time to plant...

After reading a few web pages...it is time to plant that avocado seed!  We started three seeds and one really took off.     It started after we went to see the movie RED.  Which was a great movie btw, hilarious, action packed and just fun all around. When Mary-Louise Parker's character asks about Bruce Willis's character about the progress of his plant, the kids & I were right away ' we should try that!' .  So the next time I was making salsa with avocado's we started the three seeds.  Honestly I'm surprised how well it's done so far.  

    As I mentioned earlier ,now it's time to move the seed out of the glass & water to a planter with soil.  I'm hesitant to do this as I'm concerned the seed will not react positively to this change. Even though the web pages' advice all say this is the time to take this next step.  It just looks so bright and healthy in the glass in the window.  So my next step is to find a suitable cheery planter to inspire me to move this avocado plant to a new home!  Which means some shopping around to do... my best hopes are Beaver Bark, possibly the most interesting nursery ever, and maybe Pier 1.  Already have the potting soil and plant, lol. 

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/seed/2002114535011263.html  ~~ the how to plant an avocado seed page if anyone is looking for an easy project.  We will see in 10 years or so if I can harvest an actual avocado!

    The shopping will have to wait until this darn cold clears up some more.  I hate having a coughing fit in public.  I have been drinking cup after cup of tea with honey to soothe my throat which feels so raw after each coughing fit.  It's been over a week so I'm sure I'm close to it being over.  

    I have watched seasons 2, 3, & 4 of Dexter during my downtime!  What an addictive show!  Mostly Eileen, Henry & I have been watching, with Ruben popping in for some of it. Funnily, he heard several lines in the show that are lyrics from some of his metal songs he listens to, weird. We all agreed that Dexter's sister, Debra's cussing sounded ridiculous, too much like practices lines, which made it funny too.   Special thanks to Shari for lending us the dvds.  I rented disc 1 of season 1 yesterday from Hastings, some skippy parts but we got the gist of those scenes anyway. Hopefully whoever had the rest will have returned at least disc 2 so I can watch that today!  

   Alrighty then, back to pairing the socks! 

Back to work...

       My week back to work and everything after two weeks off for winter break.  One of the best things about working for the school district is winter vacation, the other is summer vacation!  The whole week went by faster than I had expected. As usual I guess when one keeps busy. It was nice to get back to our regular schedule and see all the kids & friends at school. It's always makes me edgy to see Ruben & Eileen get farther and farther off of their regular sleep schedule.
      Monday we were all tired. I can hardly remember what we did.  I know Miss Eileen fell asleep in the recliner in the living room when she got home from school until we woke her up at 6pm for dinner and to finish  her math homework.  But other than that...just the poor dog was so happy to see us all home and he got to be back inside.  He got pretty spoiled sitting inside for two weeks.
      Tuesday we were all better rested and it went pretty smoothly.  Henry and Ruben have their kung fu class on this night, so Eileen and I are on our own for dinner. We use this night to try out new recipes we like and the boys may not, and have found several that are among our favorites now. We made chicken tacos with mango-avocado salsa, which turned out so-so.  The recipe wasn't the same one we originally tried at a friend's BBQ , so we plan to ask her for her recipe to try again later.  We decided to add something new to our Tuesday evenings and tried out a couple of foreign films.  We liked the two we picked out well enough.  A German one~ Soul Kitchen and a Japanese one~ Battle Horumo League, which was weird but still a fun movie to watch.  I'd recommend either one. We finished our movie watching with Dinner for Schmucks , which had some pretty funny scenes and we all enjoyed.
       Wednesday I went to my first Tai Chi class with Henry.  He has been helping his teacher, Craig, with this Wednesday night class for about a year or so.  I finally decided to give it a try.  It is a class for older beginners mixed with some more experienced students.  They were all a nice group of people and happy to finally see Henry's wife there.  Most of the moves were easy to follow , though are a few I will need to work on making my hands and feet go in the right directions.

Henry & I ready for class, we didn't take the dog.

I'm sure Henry and Ruben will be willing to help me!
     This left the kids home alone and making dinner for themselves.  Eileen stepped up and was volunteered to make yaki soba for the two of them.  She did a great job and didn't start any fires.  Eileen was also very excited that night because her new graphics card for her new computer came and Henry installed it , which now means she can play her Sims3 games on high everything.  She was super happy about that, and we installed a wireless antenna for her too, so she's online~ God help us! lol.

       Thursday was a grocery shopping day after work, after Henry took a nap, hahaha.  Mostly a homework evening, checking on the kids kicking them off their computers, kicking Ruben off his guitar. Which is easier because I can actually hear that!  But everything got done, we made spaghetti and everyone made it to bed on time.
        And now it's Friday!!  We've decided to give another asian film a try tonight. CJ7 ~ from the maker of Shoalin Soccer, which we really liked & Kung Fu Hustle.  Grilling steaks, balsamic romaine salad, sauted mushrooms, and baked potatoes.  And I'll finish that bottle of Late Harvest Riesling.  That's a week with the Koskis!   Please comment below~ ; )
  

watching movies

So one of our favorite past-times is watching movies together.  Getting the snacks out, wrapped up in our quilts on the comfy couches. Our favorite genres are action and humor.  This past  vacation break we were able to rewatch a lot of our favorite movies.  Starting with Christmas movies of course.  Elf , Scrooged, A Christmas Story, Groundhog's Day.  Carol Kane's Ghost of Christmas Present is one of my all time favorite scenes in a movie.   .  It isn't Christmas until I see that one! And when Buddy the Elf decorates the store for Santa in Elf, I love that scene too!
 .  Usually we watch the orginal Grinch too, but didn't catch that one this year.  We use to have the VHS of that one and haven't gotten around to buying the DVD yet.
        After the Christmas movies we had a couple picks from the family library most days we were home during this vacay.  Expendables, Zombieland, 300, Big Trouble in Little China, Year One, Step Brothers, The Island... the choices go on.  Of course we had the all day marathon on New Year's day of all three LOTR.
I just really enjoyed being together sharing movies we all enjoy and talking about our favorite parts of the movies.
      While zombie movies hadn't really been one of my choices to watch in the past, now our teenage son is really into them, so we have watched several and I find I really enjoy the funny ones like Sean of the Dead & Zombieland.  I have also really enjoyed watching Alice kick butt in the Resident Evil series.
      Eileen usually watches funny movies that make her laugh out loud. Henry and I have always been partial to those too and of course action movies.  A combination of action and humor is the best!
     I look forward to and enjoy each time we can all agree to sit together & watch a good movie together. <3

taking a winter walk

headed out with my daughter , eileen and our silly dog dozer for a walk.  took my new camera to try it out.  it was so very cold today!  like 30 degrees with the wind at the warmest! we were so cold when we got home.  it was just over an hour walk in the richland shelter belt.  fairly quiet walk , didn't see very many other walkers today. dozer was really happy to be out and pulling on his leash a lot ,but we got him calmed down towards the end of the walk.  a couple of squirrels to distract the doggie, mostly cold breezes, but blue skies.

 my sweet daughter , Eileen and her dog, Dozer

by Carmichael MS

 I love trees this time of year.

 a view off of Thayer Drive

Rattlesnake Mt. from the shelter belt

 trees and blue skies

 The Richland Shelter Belt. 

this mom rings in the new year

it was a great new year's night.  so glad to have old friends and new friends over for the evening.  it was really great night to hang out and visit.  from playing pool to the kids roasting s'mores and some tasty mojitos, the night was a lot of fun.  i will have to do some more research on champagne as the one i picked, just a cheap one, but the sugar cube didn't really help.  but we still toasted and rang in the new year with lots of cheers and laughs!

playing xbox kinnect

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between pool games

our boys

Happy New Year! (w/Henry)

w/Kathy

 from the Koski's!!!

 one tired doggie.